wants to study law and business.
"I tried to talk him out of high
school and college," Ms. Baum
says. "But to no avail."
Where the two do agree is the
centrality of Judaism in their
lives. Josh is the only Jewish
/- student at his school who takes
offal] the Jewish holidays. The
family attends Shabbat services
every week at the local Chabad
House. And Anna Flora has a
Hebrew tutor — right there at
the laundromat.
Ms. Baum says she spends a
great deal of time speaking with
children, who invariably offer
the same comment to Anna Flo-
ra when they learn she doesn't
attend school: "You're so lucky."
"The way children come out
of school is like factory rejects,"
she says. "They're damaged
mentally and morally, and a lot
of times the only job they're fit
for is flipping burgers."

hat Claire Kander
wants you to see
most of all is the don-

key head.

"You've got to see it, you've
just got to."
She is like a little bird, jump-
ing and down with delight at
the mere thought of the giant
head (normally found at a cos-
\-- tume shop), to be used in the
( family's performance ofA Mid-

summer Night's Dream.
Dutifully, brother Jacob dons
the donkey head.
Aside from the fact that it's
difficult to see out of the thing,
the donkey head is nothing less
than wonderful. Immense,
clean and brown, it seems to
/ 7 have a friendly look.
"You see!" Claire cries, her
point proven.
Beth has many lines in the
play and a solo, to boot. Yes, this
Kander version ofA Midsum-
mer Night's Dream includes
some songs, '50s style. Beth's
number is a takeoff of "Summer
Lovin'," sung so sincerely by
Olivia Newton-John and John
Travolta in Grease.
"I sing, 'Oh, those midsum-
mer nights,"" Beth explains. The
family chorus behind will add,
in Brooklyn accents, "tell us
mohr (more), tell us mohr."
'We're all such hams," broth-
er Adam, 11, says as Beth com-
pletes her song.
/-
"Kosher hams," Beth inter-
jects.
In addition to appearing on
stage, the Kander children are
active in 4-H. Some take danc-

ing and piano and participate
in programs at their synagogue
in Flint.
The eldest Kander child, and
so the first to be home educat-
ed, Beth started reading when
she was 4, and started learning
Hebrew when she was 5.
Among the first subjects she
was eager to master: writing
script.
"I wanted to learn to write
cursive because I wanted to go
to the library for more books,
and a rule then was that when
you wanted a library card you
had to be able to write cursive."
These days, she is consider-
ing going to high school.
"There are times I'll get in-
secure," she says. "Everyone at
school is doing geometry and it's
something I've never been very
good at. In fact, I hate it."
But friends don't think she's
odd, "they understand it [home
schooling] is part of my life.
"The one thing I miss is
[school] dances. But I have a lot
of guy friends. One of them has
to ask me out eventually."
She definitely wants to go on
to college, though she's not sure
yet what she'll study. "I'm try-
ing to narrow it down," she
says. "There's so much I want
to do and be. I'm thinking about
psychiatry, the rabbinate, the-
ater ..."
Beth did especially well in
her Hebrew class at the syna-
gogue, completing the course
with honors. Brother Adam
seems to be following in her
footsteps.
He's about to start taking the
class, but he's already been
teaching himself much of the
course work, his mother says.
"He'll likely complete the last
book [required for studies] be-
fore he even starts."
Jacob, 13, hopes to be an
artist or a mechanic one day.
He loves chess and reading.
He's glad he's home schooled,
he says, "because I have as
much time as it takes me to do
something. What if I were in a
math class [at public school]
and finished the work in 15
minutes, then just had to sit
there the rest of the time? Or
what if I needed two hours to
do science, but the class was
only an hour long?"
Claire, A Midsummer Night's
Dream still clasped firmly in
her hand, says, "I like reading
very much and drawing and
acting — duh — and I do like
singing because I like my voice:"

Though pleased with her
children's continued educa-
. tional growth, Mrs. Kander ac-
knowledges that home
schooling is not without its
drawbacks. Because she chose
to stay at home rather than
work, Mrs. Kander and her
husband have made financial
sacrifices. And because the chil-
dren are with her all day, "you
do give up some private time."
Extended family reaction has
been mixed. Some are quite
positive, a few less so. "My
mother is basically supportive,
but she felt challenged at first,"
Mrs. Kander says. "I think it's
because home schooling isn't
what she did."
In the early years, Mrs. Kan-
der encountered a few bouts of

anti-Semitism; it's rare these
days, though. On occasion, sup-
port groups for home schoolers
will open or close with a Chris-
tian prayer, which leaves Mrs.
Kander "uncomfortable."
"I have one home-schooling
friend who is a biblically based
Christian," she says. "We have
talked a lot about religion, and
we finally agreed to disagree.
I've found that if you're honest
about who you are and have re-
spect for others, you won't have
much of a problem." ❑

So, You Want To Go
To College
(Or Get A Job)?

How home-schooled children can get a
high-school degree.

U

nless you're an advocate of that old adage, "The best
way to teach a child to swim is throw him in the water,"
you should do your research before even considering a
home-school education for your child.
Ann Arbor is home to one of a handful of schools nationwide
that offer assistance to families educating their own children.
Called Clonlara, it is one of an even smaller number of schools
that prefers to let the child direct his own course of studies.
(There are also correspondence schools,
which have set programs.)
Einar Kvaran is a contact teacher at
Clonlara, which was established in 1967
as a private school, grades kindergarten
through high school, and expanded in
1978 to include home schooling. His
main responsibility is helping students
find resources they need on any given
subject — Shakespeare, for example.
The student is then obligated to learn
on his own (which could mean anything
from reading Shakespeare's plays to
viewing videos to writing papers) and
keep track of how much time he has
spent doing so. Upon successful com-
pletion, he will receive a credit.
In addition to earning 22 credits,
which are recognized and accepted by
many universities, Mr. Kvaran says stu-
dents must compile a portfolio and take
an exam through Clonlara. They will
then obtain a degree, similar to a high-
school degree.
Mr. Kvaran describes the school's re-
quirements for awarding a degree as
"pretty much the same as you would
have in any public or private school. We
cover subjects like U.S. government, his
tory and math."
A number of Clonlara's home-schooled
"graduates" go on to advanced studies
at the Massachusetts Institute of Tech-
nology (MIT), the University of Michi
gan and Michigan State, among others.
Today, Clonlara works with about
5,000 home-schooled students around
the world. Half are from Michigan. Vir-
tually none are fundamentalist Christ-
Jacob loves chess and
ian, mr. Kvaran says.
reading,
Higklale College, about 45 minutes
outside Jackson, has seen its number of
home-schooled students jump from five
to 15 to 28 in the past three years alone.
Jeffrey Lantis, director of admissions
at Hillsdale, believes that's due in part to Hillsdale's position
as an "independent and conservative school that espouses
traditional, Judeo-Christian values," (There are no co-ed
dorms, for example.) Oftentimes, he says, home-schooling par-
ents share the same values, including a commitment to edu
cation.
Because of the-increasing number of horne-schooled students,
Hillsdale has formulated an admissions policy that takes their
GOING TO COLLEGE page 80

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79